


we would all be fools to pray for justice

by Heather



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Comment Fic, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-04-11
Updated: 2009-04-11
Packaged: 2017-10-08 03:57:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/72452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heather/pseuds/Heather





	we would all be fools to pray for justice

**Author's Note:**

  * For [neuroticsquid](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=neuroticsquid).



Elle Greenaway didn't believe in justice.

That seemed strange to anyone who knew what she did. Shouldn't cops believe in something like that- something that was one of the most basic tenets of their careers? It may not be easy or fair, but if you wanted to catch bad guys, shouldn't you believe it exists?

Elle would've agreed with that, once.

The thing was, law enforcement got to you eventually. Before joining the BAU, Elle had seen a lot of horror working sex crimes. She'd seen women raped and mutilated, covering their mouths as they sobbed to hide their broken teeth. She'd seen terrified parents, wondering if their little girls were ever going to be found alive. Elle had seen... so much. It felt good, in those days (and in her first days with the BAU), to chase down the villains, snap them in cuffs and cart them away. Mystery solved, day saved. Justice served.

It was a nice belief system while it lasted, and of all the things she lost when Randall Garner's bullet tore through her chest, it was one of the things she missed the most.

It had kept her going, had kept her strong, had kept her together. She'd been able to believe for so long that it counted for something when the bad guys she caught went through due process, were sentenced and had those sentences carried out.

But when his fingers were in her chest, collecting her blood to leave a grisly message for the team

_(not for her- it wasn't even **about** her when he shot her, it was all about his demented private chess match with the BAU, his attempt to be a fairytale villain)_

Elle realized that there wasn't any justice that she could ever get for that.

Justice was supposed to be about fairness (why the statue was blindfolded) and balance (why she forever held her tiny scales). There was nothing fair or balanced about getting shot for having the wrong job, and there was nothing that a court or a jury could do to him that'd make that right.

When Hotch told her how he burned up in his pseudo castle, like a character in a storybook, that had felt right. That he had felt as much pain as she had- no, more- and that he had died in his home- the representation of his very self-

That had felt good.

Elle didn't just shoot William Lee because he was going to get away with what he'd done.

It was because that was the closest thing to "justice" she could offer any of his victims.

Maybe because it was the closest thing to justice she could still believe in.


End file.
